tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post3734336509840257547..comments2011-01-09T14:31:53.713-08:00Comments on qunfuz: Turf Warqunfuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07381648516025592849noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-39153893962165853442008-04-14T09:42:00.000-07:002008-04-14T09:42:00.000-07:00Thanks Robin, should add your book to the list too...Thanks Robin, should add your book to the list too!Najhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17728668942925956610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-45381714193491303072008-04-14T01:34:00.000-07:002008-04-14T01:34:00.000-07:00Naj - I can recommend 'The Shia Revival' by Vali N...Naj - I can recommend 'The Shia Revival' by Vali Nasr, an excellent book on the various Shia communities and their political experiences. On Iraq, but not specifically on the Shia, Anthony Shadid's 'Night Draws Near' is moving, informative and eautifully written.qunfuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07381648516025592849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-26459740208114741372008-04-12T23:36:00.000-07:002008-04-12T23:36:00.000-07:00"Comartively speaking I have to say that an old sh..."Comartively speaking I have to say that an old shoe of Moubarak i equal to the entire Iranian nation." - Amre<BR/><BR/>Amre! Ya Habibi! Egypt, the mother of civilisation, the greatest, most victorious! <BR/><BR/>For God's sake, what an embarrassment. This is a classic example of someone who boasts and glorifies his own tribe to himself to make himself feel good. Step outside into the real world and you and your ideas paint you as a total ass. <BR/><BR/>This jahili praise of one's tribe and cursing of other tribes definitely does not belong on a blog like this. Our friend Amre should keep his ideas to himself and perhaps some the uncles at his local sheesha bar. I am sure he will have a captive audience there. Qunfuz, you are right to not post his embarrasing tribalist garbage here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-70289704751426490002008-04-12T14:53:00.000-07:002008-04-12T14:53:00.000-07:00:)) I had teh amusement of reading Amro's comments...:)) I had teh amusement of reading Amro's comments just now! Man he is not even half as rude here as he is on my blog!<BR/><BR/>But I am grateful he is helping me meet enlightened people.<BR/><BR/>You are making a very good point about Basrawis not liking the Iranians. To be honest, Arab-Iranians of Ahwaz also do not like Iranian regime (neither the islamist one, nor the monarchist one preceding it)<BR/><BR/>The grand project is to dissect Basra and Khoramshahr and hand it to Cheney! And this is not new. <BR/><BR/>I am sure Iranians want an amicable regime running Iraq, and I am sure they will not "deny" their influence, and will barter with Americans if the must. But as you rightly mention, a lot of Iranian "influence" flowing towards Iraq is by way of Iraqi-Iranians who were expelled from Iraq, and who are simply going "home".<BR/><BR/>Iranian influence in Iraq is more of microeconomic nature; and yes they are also making a buck by exporting infrastructure. But Iran is exporting infrastructure to a lot of places in the world.Najhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17728668942925956610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-34745992476975308202008-04-12T14:40:00.000-07:002008-04-12T14:40:00.000-07:00Hi there, pleasure to meet you too!I am not very w...Hi there, pleasure to meet you too!<BR/><BR/>I am not very well informed about the Iranian/Iraqi confluences but it seems to me that the bifurcation of shiite factions in Iraq is paralleling that in Iran's clergy!<BR/><BR/>Iran's clergy are also of two breed: those who are pro-American (call the Hashemi gang) and those who are pro-chaos (who are in a turf war with the Hashemis; and teh backers of Ahmadinejad!)<BR/><BR/>As you know, shiism in Iran has served a major "resistance" purpose since almost 1100 years ago. I am very curious to know what teh trajectory of shiite politics has been in Iraq, that until recently has been under sunni-secular rule.<BR/>If you know of a good book, drop it my way!Najhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17728668942925956610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-15312523525287039722008-04-12T11:28:00.000-07:002008-04-12T11:28:00.000-07:00I've smiled at Amre so far, but on Wassim's Maysal...I've smiled at Amre so far, but on Wassim's Maysaloon blog I found grotesque comments by him, which I responded to - and I include them here to show why I won't allow any comments from him on my blog in the future:<BR/><BR/> Amre El-Abyad said... <BR/>Qunfuz,<BR/><BR/>An Iranioan is saying Egypt is irrelevet:))<BR/><BR/>Man compare the two countries and you will realize that your country Iran is a big zero.<BR/><BR/>I am talking technological advancment, women rights , individual liberty, military efffciency.<BR/><BR/>And if we are really irrelevnt, then ask someof your country men who fought in 1988 about what missiles, and technlogies that slew Iranians in thoudsands in 1988 iam talking El-Fao.<BR/><BR/>The Iranian qunfuz is talking about sectariansim.<BR/><BR/>You have actually, qunfuz, reinforced my point abpout the structural defiecincies in this entity so called Iran. you a really one dimensional minded and totally incapable of serious thinking.<BR/><BR/>The head of the Egyptian regime fought Israel with his own hands 5 times and contributed in bringing on its first defeat.<BR/><BR/>Th eregime of Hosni Moubarak, provided staregic and technical suport to Iraq when it was going through an 8 years n behalf of the Arab nation against the Irania enemy.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Now let's look at the BABOON- AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI which you worship and his mistress- Ayatollaj Ali Khameini.<BR/><BR/>First Khomeni was installed by the CIA which encouraged him to call for bringing down the regime in Bagdad, it cracked down onArab nationalism and started al over the old habit of the sticky Iranians imposeing themslves on Arabs, that resulted in an 8 years war that destabilised the region.<BR/><BR/>LOOK AT THIS AYATILLAH KHOMWEINI WAS BUYING ARMS FOR HIS FORCES LEAD BY THE RAT NAJAD AND ALI KHAMEINI TO KILL ARAB S IN IRAQ.<BR/><BR/>However Egyptian regime took the homourabnle stand againsty the Irania enemy.<BR/><BR/>Despite of all my reservations against Egyptian regime, comartively speaking I have to say that an old shoe of Moubarak i equal to the entire Iranian nation.<BR/><BR/>Qunfuz- get out of the land of your masters:)) or you will be gassed gain. some times chemical insecticides is best way to handle LOCUST no matter how harmful it is to the environment.<BR/><BR/>For thousands of years Iran is nothing but trouble enforcing itself on Arabs , we have civilised you all the time bring you alphabet and letters, but it doesnt work, you never scram!!!!!!!<BR/><BR/>1:59 PM<BR/><BR/><BR/> qunfuz said... <BR/>Amre - you have just posted a similar bout of hysteria on my blog. I've taken it with a smile so far, but when I read your rants about 'locusts' (on my blog you say that Iranians are really Indians) then I stop smiling. Racism isn't funny. And if you think such hatred of Iranians is going to help solve our region's problems you are even stupider than you seem. Also, your pride in Saddam Hussain's criminal Western-backed genocidal use of poison gas against Iranian cities, as well as against Iraqi civilians is simply disgusting.qunfuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07381648516025592849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-58763098068723765452008-04-12T11:11:00.000-07:002008-04-12T11:11:00.000-07:00Amre - I've noticed and sometimes responded to you...Amre - I've noticed and sometimes responded to your hysterical comments on other blogs. And now here you are on mine, and really outdoing yourself. I won't respond to all your strange ideas, except to express wonder. How, for instance, did you become convinced that I am an Iranian (or perhaps I should say Indian)? I'm not Iranian. In this post I expressed a lot more sympathy for Moqtada as-Sadr than for Hakeem, partly because as-Sadr is much less closely linked to Iran. I don't want Iranian domination of Iraq (neither do I want Saudi or Turkish or American domination of the country). I recognise that the Iranian system has many faults, but of course it is much more developed, better educated, and more democratic than Egypt - which is also a country I love dearly. Now calm down, Amre habibi, and try to think clearly.qunfuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07381648516025592849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-58784423016685315442008-04-12T06:52:00.000-07:002008-04-12T06:52:00.000-07:00Iran is a regional superpoweryou really make me la...Iran is a regional superpower<BR/><BR/>you really make me laugh:))<BR/><BR/>That regional power was crushed in 1988 by the much smaller Iraq and Iranians went out in the street of Tehran crying sieze fire.<BR/><BR/>its military is obsolete and lacks al foundations of modernity.<BR/><BR/>Iran with all these huge oil and mineral wealth is far behind the oiless and recourcless country like Egypt which spent the entire 20 century going into eal wars against super powers ( not just mpouth pieces to cover their occupation of Iraq) in almost all aspects. Mna look at your GDP per capåita and comapre to your resources and you will know what sort of losers you are :))))))))<BR/><BR/>Iran is bragging like an idiot about some miislies it bought from North Korea LOL and thinks that would make IT a super power( which was developed by Egyptian technology, check global security and and NTI). Man you are really medieval<BR/><BR/>So you are actually admiting that Iran is co-occupying Iraq.<BR/><BR/>Face it dude you are not part of the middl east! simply because you are not Arabs. The so called Persian culture belongs to the Indian civisation sphere. so why dont you impose your Iranian selves on someone who wants you:))<BR/><BR/>I ma sure that you will never go away, though!Amre El-Abyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16573287809747571814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-52948764579140507872008-04-07T04:31:00.000-07:002008-04-07T04:31:00.000-07:00Carlo - I've copied the below from Juan Cole's exc...Carlo - I've copied the below from Juan Cole's excellent Informed Comment (see my links):<BR/><BR/>"The Times of London reports that US Gen. David Petraeus will report to the US Congress that Iranian fighters fought alongside Mahdi Army militiamen in Basra. <BR/><BR/>This fixation on Iran just doesn't make any sense to me. The poor slum kids and Marsh Arabs in Basra who follow Muqtada al-Sadr don't even like Iranians. The primary Iran-linked force in Basra is the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq with its Badr Corps militia, which most Basrans code as Iranian puppets. One of my Iraqi correspondents told me that when the Badr Corps was fighting Marsh Arabs, local Basrans characterized it as 'Iranians fighting Iraqis.' The Badr Corps, according to the Iraqi press, fought alongside al-Maliki's 14th Division against the Mahdi Army. The Badr Corps was trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and it is alleged that many Badr Corps fighters are still on the Iranian payroll.<BR/><BR/>Iranians come through Basra on their way up to Karbala and Najaf on pilgrimage to sacred Shiite shrines, and a handful may have gotten caught up in the fighting. This sort of thing has happened before. [8,000 Iranian pilgrims caught in Iraq because of the fighting have just been recalled home, and a temporary halt on the pilgrimages has been called.) But that Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei of Iran deliberately sent Iranian troops or agents into Basra to undermine ISCI, Badr, and al-Maliki's Da'wa (Islamic Missionary) Party on behalf of the Sadr Movement just strikes me as daft. It flies in the face of everything else we know about the relationship of these groups with Iran.<BR/><BR/>In fact, the Iranian leadership benefits from a united Iraqi Shiite community and the head of the Expediency Council, Akbar Rafsanajani, expressed concern about the faction-fighting among Iraqi Shiites. Iran brokered the cease-fire. If it wanted Shiite on Shiite fighting, why would it do that?<BR/><BR/>Neither the US nor Britain any longer has good intelligence on what is happening in the slums of Basra. If Petraeus is getting his information from al-Maliki on all this, he should be careful. The Da'wa and ISCI are perfectly capable of doing propaganda to embroil the US in their fights. In fact, their lies helped draw the US in, in the first place."qunfuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07381648516025592849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-33379315127189742352008-04-07T03:38:00.000-07:002008-04-07T03:38:00.000-07:00what do you make of the claims -- which Petraeus i...what do you make of the claims -- which Petraeus is reported to be prepared to give credit to-- of Iranian forces actually fighting with Sadrists in Basra against the Iraqi-USA attacks? It is scary. The USA scares me to no end.carlonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-59636320074683965752008-04-02T13:37:00.000-07:002008-04-02T13:37:00.000-07:00Carlo - Both are supported by Iran to some extent....Carlo - Both are supported by Iran to some extent. This doesn't mean that Iran controls either. But Iran is a regional superpower, and is THE Shia state. Iraqi Shia have cultural, religious, business and sometimes familial links with Iran. For example, Ayatullah Sistani lives in Najaf and is the most followed Ayatullah by Iraqis, but he is Iranian-born. He is a 'quietist', and opposes the Khomeini model of government. There's an example of how being linked to Iran doesn't necessarily mean being a tool of the Iranian govt. I do think that the Badr Brigade is more clearly linked to official Iran than the Sadrists. The Badr Brigade was established and trained in Iran. The fact that it is allied with the US is one of the many contradictions of US policy. But it's also realpolitic: the Americans have to deal with whoever will deal with them. They'd prefer to deal with non-Islamists, with Iraqis more linked to American culture than Iranian, but there aren't many Iraqis who fit into that category. Such leaders would very obviously be imported puppets, and that kind of obvious imperialism wouldn't work for five minutes.qunfuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07381648516025592849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33889889.post-79325870784309362602008-04-02T09:57:00.000-07:002008-04-02T09:57:00.000-07:00what I do not get is who is supported by Iran. Is ...what I do not get is who is supported by Iran. Is it Sadr or Badr? If it is Badr, as you suggest, Iran and the USA would be accomplices,and this is difficult to believe given the current relations between the two countries and given the fact that Sadr is studying in Qom, not to mention the fact that an Iranian, according to McClatchy has mediated the ceasefire. Or are they both supported?carlonoreply@blogger.com